Expert and Novice End-User Spreadsheet Debugging: A Comparative Study of Performance and Behaviour

The reliability of end-user developed spreadsheets is poor. Research studies find that 94% of ‘real-world’ spreadsheets contain errors. Although some research has been conducted in the area of spreadsheet testing, little is known about the behaviour or processes of individuals during the debugging task. In this paper, the authors investigate the performance and behaviour of expert and novice end-users in the debugging of an experimental spreadsheet. To achieve this aim, a spreadsheet debugging experiment was conducted, with professional and student participants requested to debug a spreadsheet seeded with errors. The work utilises a novel approach for acquiring experimental data through the unobtrusive recording of participants’ actions using a custom built VBA tool. Based on findings from the experiment, a debugging tool is developed, and its effects on debugging performance are investigated.